First car!

[jawidjanqndn]

My first car was a KA and I found it really easy to drive and park and very reliable. Definitely test drive a few makes to see what you feel comfortable in.

Some makes hold their value - VW, Audi - so getting a slightly older one could be a possibility. I’m always being told that Japanese cars are very reliable too.

Re: finance - I’d look into what you can afford to pay outright and what that gets you. Finance for what is relatively speaking a small amount may screw you over - rather like a pay day loan, the interest rate is often outrageous. I’d suggest either waiting to buy outright, saving for a bigger deposit and then seeing if you can get an interest free deal on a newer car, or getting a bank loan at a better interest rate.

Good luck with the driving lessons and your test.

Yeah I was thinking the same re finance. I have saved enough to buy one now but I just wanted to have a look at my options. Thanks all for your help, i’ll definitely keep looking at KA’s I’ve heard good things about them.

 

[WilmaHun]

Fiat 500s are one of the worst rated cars by Which?

Honestly don't see what the fuss is about with them, they look awful. Give me a Focus ST or an M3 any day (obvs I know, budget and all that)

Their NCAP safety rating is also 3/5 stars which isn't great. There's lots of other small cars available on the market in a similar price range which have far better ratings imo!

 

[jawidjanqndn]

Are you going to be using your own car to learn in ontop of your lessons? If not, then just wait until your nearly test ready to buy a car.

for a first car, don’t get something on finance. Get an older, cheap run around that you can drive around in without worrying too much about bumping it - you Only truly start to really learn to drive once you’ve passed your test and are out driving on your own so you want something you can just potter around in and really get to grips with driving in. Look at an old style Clio,KA,Micra,Fiesta etc

Even if you spent £1000 on an older car and get a year or so driving out of it that’s going to be better than financing an expensive new car.

I’ve been learning in my mums car (as well as a 1 hour lesson a week) so I definitely don’t feel rushed to buy one right this second. My theory is booked in January and I’d hope to pass by the summer at the very latest.

I’ve saved around 2k so far however with insurance and stuff I’m going to wait out and save as much as I possibly can by January. Thanks for your help though, this has given me all the info I need! God I wish they taught you this stuff back in school

It's also worth playing around with adding named drivers on, in my first year adding my dad as a named driver brought my price down by £600, in my second year keeping him on made my premium higher so I removed him

Wow okay thankyou! I’ll definitely look into this